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Online searches for mental health-related terms double in four years

The number of searches for mental health-related terms
has increased dramatically over the past four years, an analysis shows.

Research from RedArc found the number of monthly searches
undertaken in the UK for the specific term “mental health” has more than
doubled in the past four years, from around 27,800 in 2015 to 69,200 in 2019.

Analysing the monthly searches for 893 broader phrases
that Google understands as being related to mental health shows a 37% increase
from 2015 to 2019.

Of these, the three specific terms with the highest
number of monthly searches during this four year period are anxiety, depression
and bipolar.

These trends mirror data released by Google earlier this
year that highlighted around 7% of worldwide Google daily searches were health
related, equivalent to 70,000 every minute.

Christine Husbands, managing director for RedArc nurses,
said people need to ensure they are seeking advice from a reputable source
as there is a lot of content out there of a dubious nature.

“We’re never going to stop people using search engines to
research potential mental health conditions, but we do need to help people make
a judgement about which sources to trust,” she stated. “Employers should be
looking to fill this space either directly or via a third party to ensure that
staff only receive the highest quality of information and that it is just as
easy to source as using a search engine and is backed up with real
interventions should a member of staff need it.”